Husbands and Wives

I wonder if someone from New York City would find the neuroses of someone from, say... well, Say City, Bekpetistan, funny?

Apparently not, because few films are based there.

In this one of the thousands of films Woody Allen has made in his long career, he concentrates on the weirdness brought about by marriage and the ripple effect it has on others. While performances are fairly even throughout and the characters have been rather well drawn, the film is a little long-winded and drawn out, saying a lot where a little would have sufficed. Not always being a Woody Allen fan, and finding behavioural disorders not so funny, I’ve had a lot of trouble entering into his school of thought. However, I did find certain threads of this movie interesting with some valid points to make about marriage and love in general.

I won’t go deeply into the complexities of this story, but to say that we follow the lives of two couples and their varying misadventures. Our first couple begins by breaking up, while our other couple begins questioning their own relationship due to this breakup. In time more facts arise that complicate matters and before you know it situations are reversing everywhere we go.

Not among Woody’s better works, this still has its moments of cheer, though I was hard pressed to squeeze out a single laugh. Maybe I don’t find marriage problems funny, I dunno. However, fans of this very popular filmmaker will no doubt find a range of emotions to enjoy here.

Told in a sort of faux documentary format, with interviews about the story’s events taking place at random moments, the film jumps across genres a little clumsily. For the most part these interludes provide a spot of relief from watching the film, but then you realise they are a part of the film and are giving us further information. In sticking with the doco format, there are numerous hand-held camera shots and long, long takes that give an authenticity to the drama being played out. This shows some real cleverness from the actors, particularly in complex choreographed movements around a tightly spaced apartment or bungalow or party.

There are some early jitters in the opening titles and these occur occasionally throughout as well, though it could just be the hand-held camera’s movements. More than a little grainy at times, the picture is off-sharp by a few degrees, and while not soft edged, it makes the film look older than its 11 years should look. Colours are rather washed out being mostly in earthy tones with little garishness to play with and blacks being true to life. Shadow detail isn’t the best and in the numerous night scenes we get some extra grain and such. There is also a bizarre compression negative at 1:30:02 and while granted it’s during a thunderstorm lightning strike, it still looks unlike it was probably intended to look. A fairly average transfer at best here.

Well, Dolby Digital stereo is the audio du’jour here and being a dialogue-driven vehicle, this is adequate for the film’s intentions. The sound effects are all okay, particularly during the aforementioned thunderstorm, though there is little else of exceptional note.

Music comes along but rarely and when it does it’s in the form of older wartime tracks that do suit the mood nicely. However, this is a purely practical sound mix and doesn’t warrant any letters home.

Two trailers for Woody Allen features are all we get and these are for this very film, Husbands and Wives, and the much better film Manhattan Murder Mystery. Both are unfortunately in 4:3 and come in under two minutes each.

No doubt fans of Woody Allen’s work will require this DVD to fill out their collections, but for anyone else, this comparatively lacklustre Allen effort isn’t much worth the effort. Noteable performances hold the film up to a degree, however, particularly from Judy Davis in what is arguably the lead role, with worthy portrayals coming in from Woody himself, Mia Farrow and Liam Neeson.

Completists no doubt already have it, but I’m sure even they’ve watched other, better, Woody Allen vehicles.